System and method for storing information on a wireless device

ABSTRACT

A system and method for storing personal, medical, and insurance related information on a wireless device are disclosed. The information may be stored by sending it from a remote personal computer to a central database using the Internet. The information may be temporarily stored on the central database and password protected. The information is thereafter downloaded from the central database to the wireless device, where it is permanently stored. The information then may be deleted from the central database so that it is secured on the wireless device. All or portions of the information stored on the wireless device may be password protected as well. The information may be accessed on the wireless device (e.g. on a display) or sent from the wireless device to remote locations, such as a doctor&#39;s office or hospital.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a system and method for storinginformation on a wireless device. In particular, the present inventionis directed to a system and method for storing on a wireless device,personal, medical, and insurance information that may be viewed on thewireless device and transmitted to other destinations by telefax, email,or other communications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Changes in mobility in the work force have led many consumers tochange health care providers at least as frequently as they change jobs.The mobility of medical records, however, has not kept pace with themobility of consumers. Most medical records are still recorded inwritten form at a doctor's office, either on paper or in a computer. Fewconsumers go to the trouble of maintaining their own private “database”of their medical history. As consumers switch from one provider to thenext, they often lose access to crucial personal medical records andhealth-related insurance information. Even those consumers fortunateenough to have access to their records must go through the trouble ofrequesting and compiling the records in paper form. As a result, manyconsumers do not have and cannot provide their complete medical records,including personal medical histories, and records of immunizations,prescriptions and allergies. As a result of this situation, businesstravelers may find themselves in a new doctor's office without easyaccess to records. Parents may be unable to provide accurate informationabout their children. Emergency patients may jeopardize their healthwithout ready access to accurate records. Even the typical medicalconsumer cannot provide or access their complete records during aroutine doctor's office visit. Accordingly, a method and device forproviding medical, insurance, and personal information in such instanceswould be helpful to such consumers.

[0003] Changes in the medical care delivery system and an agingpopulation also contribute to the growing need for personal medicalinformation that is readily accessible at any time (i.e., portable) andeasily conveyed to medical service providers. More consumers arevisiting multiple doctors and specialists than in the past. The need formultiple doctors affects the elderly, chronically ill, managed carepatients, and parents with several children especially. Patients arerequired to fill out multiple forms with each new visit. Withoutportable, readily accessible information, consumers spend unnecessarytime recalling enrollment data and filling out form after form. Readyaccess to one complete source of such information would greatly enhancethe efficiency and accuracy of the medical system.

[0004] Furthermore, problems often arise with elderly patients who needto take multiple medications. It is common for such patients to facedifficulties in recalling all of their medications and the correctdosages and dosage times. Thus, there is need for a method and devicethat provides simple, easy, and portable access to medical information,as well as daily medication reminders.

[0005] Furthermore, patients who visit multiple specialists may beprescribed medications by different physicians that interact adverselywith one another. Easy access to information on a patient'sprescriptions could also help to alleviate this problem.

[0006] Several systems for providing mobile access to personal medicalinformation are known. One system stores consumer data on credit-cardsized “smart cards.” Smart cards are portable data carriers that areembedded with a computer chip that contains a user's personal medicalinformation. The cards are read by smart card readers located inparticipating emergency response vehicles and by PC-based readers inparticipating hospitals, physicians' offices, pharmacies, and retirementfacilities.

[0007] McGauley et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,998, is directed to a systemof storing personal medical information on smart cards, which may beaccessed and updated at PC-based point-of-care stations. Data is enteredat a PC station and transferred to a patient's smart card throughoff-line communications. Data stored on the card may be accessed at anypoint-of-care station. The patient's data is not sent to the portabledevice from a server through on-line communications. Instead,distributed databases may be used to update a patient's informationthrough off-line coupling between a point-of-care database and a smartcard database. The data is updated by detecting information that isstored on one database and not the other and automatically propagatingthe most recent data. This system requires both physical presence of thesmart card at the point-of-care computer and a card reader for updatingthe information stored on the card. The physical presence requirementleads to inefficiencies because users cannot gain access to, or update,their information outside the presence of a reader station.Additionally, with smart cards there has been lack of standardization ofthe technology resulting in poor market penetration of card readers. Thecell phone offers a universally accepted platform with high marketpenetration.

[0008] Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method thatprovides users with easy updating access through on-line communications.There is also a need for a system that provides increased portableaccessibility to a user's information as it allows a user to viewinformation at any time and place.

[0009] Another known system used to access personal medical informationuses the Internet. Many websites offer to store online health carerecords for consumers. Consumers, however, are concerned with theprivacy and security of the web as a place to store their vital,personal information. Hence, such sites have failed to gain broadconsumer acceptance.

[0010] Thus, there is a need for a method and system that resolves theportability, privacy, and security problems of on-line storage of healthcare records. More particularly, there is a need for a system thatprovides users with easy access to their information without thesecurity risk of storing it in a central location that can be hackedinto.

[0011] Call center clearinghouses are another known form of access topersonal health information, which have been used in emergencysituations. Subscribers to these services wear identification braceletswith toll free numbers engraved on them. Although these services havegained limited acceptance, consumers may not want to wear the jewelry,because it is viewed as a sign of illness or weakness; in addition,valuable time may be lost in emergency situations by calling the tollfree number and waiting to retrieve the patient's medical data. The callcenter system also does not scale well to handle a large number of callsbecause of prohibitive labor cost. Thus there is a need for an efficientmethod to access personal medical information without the need to calland wait for an intermediary to retrieve the data.

[0012] Although not related to the medical information field, Martino,U.S. Pat. No. 5,805, 676 discloses a system in which data is enteredinto a data transaction device, which is also a telephone, fortransmission and storage on a database server. This data, however, isnot locally stored on the telephone device and thus presents securityrisks.

[0013] Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system thatprovides for local storage of the user's information on a mobile device,such as a wireless phone. The information may be sent through theInternet (from the server) to the wireless device and then deleted fromthe server. This provides a user with portable access to theirinformation, which may be helpful in a number of circumstances, such asphysicians' office visits and emergency situations, without significantsecurity risks.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0014] It is therefore an object of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention to provide a system and method for a user to carrymedical, insurance, and personal information on their person atvirtually all times.

[0015] It is another object of an embodiment of the present invention toprovide a system and method for storing personal, medical, and insuranceinformation on a wireless device.

[0016] A further object of an embodiment of the present invention is toprovide portable and efficient access to personal, medical, andinsurance information.

[0017] An additional object of an embodiment of the present invention isto provide secure access to personal, medical, and insuranceinformation.

[0018] Another object of an embodiment of the present invention is toprovide a system and method for securely transmitting essential healthinformation from a wireless device to health care providers.

[0019] It is yet another object of an embodiment of the presentinvention to provide a system and method for storing personal, medical,and insurance information that can be updated easily.

[0020] It is still another object of an embodiment of the presentinvention to provide a system and method for storing personal, medical,and insurance information that can be password-protected for selectiveaccess.

[0021] Yet another object of an embodiment of the present invention isto provide a system and method for storing information on a wirelessdevice that deletes the information if the device is lost or stolen.

[0022] Yet another object of an embodiment of the present invention isto provide a system and method for storing medical information thatgives medication reminders to users.

[0023] It is still yet another object of an embodiment of the presentinvention to provide a system and method for storing information locallyon a wireless device instead of on an Internet accessible database or anon-line database, thereby improving user confidence in its security.

[0024] Additional objects and advantages of the invention are set forth,in part, in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparentto one of ordinary skill in the art from the description and/or from thepractice of the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0025] Responsive to the foregoing challenges, Applicants have developedan innovative method for storing information on a wireless device,comprising the steps of: accessing a central server, said central serverhaving at least one database associated therewith; temporarily storingpersonal, medical or insurance information relating to a person on thecentral server database; accessing the central server with the wirelessdevice; transferring the information from the central server to thewireless device; storing the information in the wireless device; anddeleting the information from the central server database.

[0026] Applicants have also developed an innovative method for storinginformation on a wireless device, comprising the steps of: accessing acentral server with a remote input device, said central server having adatabase associated therewith; temporarily storing information relatingto a person in the central server database; storing in the database apassword or PIN associated with the information; accessing the centralserver with a wireless device; transmitting the password or PIN from thewireless device to the central server; transmitting the informationtemporarily stored in the database to the wireless device responsive tothe receipt of the password or PIN by the central server; storing theinformation in the wireless device; and deleting the informationtemporarily stored in the central server database.

[0027] Applicants have developed an innovative system for storinginformation on a wireless device comprising: a central server; adatabase operatively connected to the central server; a remote inputdevice; a network connecting the remote input device to the centralserver; a wireless device having a memory; medical information relatingto a person stored in the wireless device memory in the form of a URL;dedicated means for accessing the medical information from the memory;and a wireless network connecting the wireless device to the centralserver.

[0028] It is to be understood that both the foregoing generaldescription and the following detailed description are exemplary andexplanatory only, and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed.The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein by reference,and which constitute a part of this specification, illustrate certainembodiments of the invention and, together with the detaileddescription, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] In order to assist the understanding of this invention, referencewill now be made to the appended drawings, in which like referencenumerals refer to like elements. The drawings are exemplary only, andshould not be construed as limiting the invention.

[0030]FIG. 1 is schematic diagram illustrating a system for storinginformation on a wireless device according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0031]FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method embodiment of the presentinvention for storing information on a wireless device.

[0032]FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method embodiment of the presentinvention for storing information on a wireless device and transmittingthe information from the wireless device to a remote location.

[0033]FIG. 4 is a printout of a hypothetical user's personal, medical,and insurance information according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0034]FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a wireless device that may beused in an embodiment of the invention.

[0035]FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an alternativeembodiment of the invention.

[0036]FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an alternativeembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0037] Reference will now be made in detail to system and methodembodiments of the present invention for storing information on awireless device, an example of which is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. With reference to FIG. 1, in a first embodiment of the presentinvention a system 10 for storing information on a wireless device isshown. The system 10 may comprise: a central server 200 having one ormore databases 400 associated therewith; means 100 for providinginformation to the central server; a network 300; a wireless device 500;and means 600 for transferring the information from the server 200 tothe wireless device 500.

[0038] With continued reference to FIG. 1, the means for providinginformation to the central server 200 may comprise one or more remoteinput devices 100, such as a personal computer. Although a personalcomputer is shown in FIG. 1, it is appreciated that the remote inputdevice 100 could be provided by a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA),two-way pager, wireless telephone, PDA phone, conventional telephone,wireless web phone, handheld PC, tablet, laptop, or other suitablecommunication device without departing from the scope of the presentinvention.

[0039] The remote input device 100 may be connected to a server 200 overa network 300. The network 300 may be any suitable communicationsnetwork that is compatible with both the input device 100 and the server200. The network 300 may include hard-wired components, wirelesscomponents, or some combination of the two. In the preferred embodiment,the network 300 may comprise and/or include the Internet.

[0040] The server 200 may be connected to the network 300 such thatcommunications may be made from numerous remote input devices 100 to asingle server. The server 200 facilitates the receipt and temporarystorage of information, as well as the transmission of storedinformation, as is described in more detail below. The server 200 isprovided with the protocols necessary for communication with the remoteinput devices 100 and with the wireless devices 500.

[0041] One or more databases 400 may be associated with the server 200.The databases 400 may be adapted to store personal, medical, andinsurance information relating to a user. The databases 400 may also beused to store a user name, password, and/or Personal IdentificationNumber (PIN) relating to a user. The databases 400 are preferablycapable of storing and providing content used for web-based and WirelessApplication Protocol (WAP)-based applications of the system. In thepreferred embodiment, databases 400 are located on one or more webservers 200. Other configurations and locations of the databases wouldbe well known to persons of ordinary skill in the art and are consideredwithin the scope of the present invention.

[0042] Content stored on databases 400 may include applications forobtaining information from users, including a web-based informationform, such as a medical information form. The databases 400 may alsoinclude temporary storage for the information received from users, aswell as applications for transmitting the information to a wirelessdevice. The databases 400 may further include applications that enablethe transmission of information back from a wireless device to a remoterecipient via text-message, email, facsimile, voice, etc. Also, theservers may include applications which allow for natural languageinformation being sent to the wireless device, to be translated intocodes, thereby taking up less space on the wireless device.

[0043] In one possible implementation, compression or lookups (e.g.D=Diabetes) may be used to allow for encoding maximum user data. Formbased information can be encrypted for added security and to reduce theamount of required storage space on the wireless device, by usingabbreviated codes for diseases (adhering to standards set forth byHIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act andexisting medical diagnosis (ICD-9) or drug (NDC) codes. For example, anNDC code for 30 mg of Prozac would be stored as 00002400630).Conversely, when data is retrieved from the wireless device and sent outto a fax machine, these database servers would translate the codes backinto natural language and format them appropriately.

[0044] One or more wireless devices 500, such as a cellular phone or aPDA, may be connected to the server 200 over the network 300. An exampleof a wireless device 500 is shown in FIG. 5. The wireless device mayinclude one or more of the following in some functional form: an antenna510, a transceiver 520, a memory 530, a display screen 540, a keypad550, a wireless browser 560, a microphone 570, a speaker 580, and aclock/calendar 590. The wireless device 500 may communicate with thenetwork 300 via a wireless service provider. The wireless device 500 ispreferably provided with a wireless browser functionality and associatedmemory. The wireless browser enables communication with the server 200,and the associated memory enables storage of information downloaded fromthe server.

[0045] Wireless service providers may establish connections betweenwireless devices and the network 300 (preferably the Internet) by adial-up server and communications towers 600. The connection between thewireless device 500 and the server 200 preferably enables user-inputinformation that has been stored on the databases 400 to be sent fromthe server 200 to the wireless device 500 for storage thereon. Thetransmissions between the server and the wireless device may beprotected by security measures, such as Wireless Transport LayerSecurity (WTLS), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), or other means ofencrypting transmitted data.

[0046] A method for storing information on the wireless device 500 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 2. Withreference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a central server 200 may be accessed in step700. Preferably the central server 200 is accessed by a remote inputdevice 100 as described above. It is possible, however, to access thecentral server from a terminal that is local to or co-located with thecentral server (as shown in FIG. 6). Access may involve logging onto theserver 200, requesting information and forms used to input information,and downloading the information and forms from the central server andthe databases 400 associated with the central server. When an embodimentof the invention is implemented in a web-based environment, theweb-based information forms may be displayed for users on the screen ofthe input device, such as the personal computer 100 shown in FIG. 1.

[0047] In step 710, a wide variety of medical, personal, and/orinsurance information may be input on a remote (or even local) inputdevice. The input information (shown in FIG. 4) may include, but is notlimited to: name; address; home and work phone; date of birth; sex;social security number; emergency contacts; medical and hospitalinformation, such as hospital preference, last hospital admission, bloodtype, organ donor, and living will designations; allergies; diagnoses;surgical procedures; medications; health care providers; user's doctor'sname and contact information; immunizations; health insuranceinformation; and dates issued and last updated. This list is notconsidered to be exhaustive, but rather exemplary. It is appreciatedthat any information that generally falls under the category of medical,insurance, and personal information may be input by the user or someoneelse on his behalf.

[0048] The input information may be inserted into an on-screen form.After the information is input at the remote device 100, in step 718 itmay be sent via the network 300 to the server 200, which in turn maystore the information in the databases 400. The information may be sentto the server 200 using normal Internet protocols, such as HTML. Theuser may associate a user name and/or password with the informationstored on the databases 400. The user name and/or password may be usedby the user to access the information from the databases at a futuretime and instruct the transfer of the information to a wireless device.

[0049] The server 200 may be instructed to store the information in thedatabases only temporarily, e.g. for no more than twenty-four (24)hours. After the specified temporary storage time, the information maybe deleted from the databases 400. Alternatively, the information may bestored in the databases 400 until it is accessed by and downloaded to auser's wireless device 500. The temporary storage of the information inthe databases acts as a security measure for the information. Once thetemporary storage period comes to an end, there is no central locationfrom which a user's medical information can be accessed.

[0050] With continued reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, in step 720 thecentral server may be accessed by a wireless device 500 during the timethat the information is temporarily stored in the databases 400. Using awireless protocol, such as WAP, the wireless device 500 may request thatthe information that is temporarily stored in the databases bedownloaded into memory provided in the wireless device. The user mayneed to provide a user name and/or password before being granted accessto, and a download of, the information.

[0051] Provided that the user of the wireless device 500 is authorized(as evidenced by use of the correct user name and password, forexample), the information stored in the databases may be transmitted tothe wireless device in step 730. The information sent to the wirelessdevice 500 may be stored in memory resident in the wireless device. Datamay be stored in a HIPAA approved coded form.

[0052] The steps of a preferred method embodiment of the presentinvention are shown in FIG. 3. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, in step700 a user accesses a central server 200 over the network 300 via anInternet web site using the remote terminal 100. Preferably, thedatabases 400 retrieve the web-based content for the Internet web pageand display the content on the computer 100, or other suitable device.The computer screen preferably displays an information form for a userto fill out.

[0053] In step 710 the user may input information into the form at theremote terminal 100 for storage on the central server 200, which may behealth care information, including personal identification, medical,pharmacy, and insurance information. Examples of the types ofinformation that may be input are provided above. In step 715, the usermay also designate a user name and password or PIN at the time that theinformation is input in order to protect against disclosure of theinformation to unauthorized individuals. The user name and/or passwordmay be set by the user or assigned by the system.

[0054] The user may choose to password protect all or only part of theinformation. The stored information may be segregated by the user intotiers, with each tier having a predetermined level of security. A simplesystem may be implemented with two tiers of security. For example, in atwo tiered system the user may choose to designate personal informationsuch as Name, Address, Emergency Contact Information, etc. to beviewable on the wireless device display (provided the device supportssuch a configuration). The foregoing basic information would be visibleto any operator of the wireless device, but private information, such asprescriptions, past medical history, etc. would be encrypted and/orprotected by password. The information that is intended to be protectedmay be tagged at the time that it is input by the user or his agent.Multiple tiers of security may be provided by using different and morecomplex encryption and password protection for the different tiers.

[0055] Additional security measures may also be used to protect theconnection between the computer 100 and the central server 200 while auser inputs data for storage. Digital links and encryption (e.g. SSL)may be used to protect data transmitted between the computer and theserver. It is expected that only SSL will be used to protect the linkbetween the computer 100 and the central server 200, as this is thestandard protection employed by financial institutions for the securetransfer of information.

[0056] In step 718 the information may be sent from the remote device100 to the server 200, which in turn may store the information in thedatabases 400. The information may be only temporarily stored on thecentral server to preserve its confidentiality. The databases 400 serveas a temporary storage that enables communication between the user'scomputer 100 with his wireless device 500.

[0057] With reference to FIG. 7, if a direct connection between thecomputer 100 and the wireless device 500 is available, in an alternativeembodiment, the information could be sent directly between the twowithout the need for storage in the databases 400. This may beaccomplished using any type of connection to the wireless device whetherit be USB, IrDA, Cellular Network, or others. It could also be realizedusing technology such as Java, BREW, or future languages.

[0058] Looking to the future, the proliferation of the use of languagessuch as Java/J2ME and BREW in conjunction with wireless communicationswill enable users to launch a Java (or similar) based applicationdirectly from the wireless device. Downloaded information from thecentral server 200 can be stored without having to “bookmark” it. Theinformation may instead be stored locally and provided by directtransmission from the wireless device to locations such as health careprovider computers and fax machines. Enhancements may also enable thestorage of compressed graphics on the wireless device, thereby allowinga user's MRI or CT scans to be stored on the device.

[0059] After the information is stored on the central server 200 of thesystem, the central server may be accessed by the wireless device 500 instep 720. The wireless device 500 may connect to a wireless carrier'sdial-up server using a wireless browser and establish a lower levelconnection with the network 300 and the central server 200 via awireless communications system 600. After the browser function of thewireless device 500 is activated, the user may enter a Uniform ResourceLocator (URL) to access an Internet web site maintained by the server200. The request for the entered URL preferably is sent to a WirelessApplication Protocol (WAP) gateway, which is located in the cellularprovider's infrastructure. The WAP gateway provides communicationbetween a WAP device (a wireless device) and the traditional Internet.

[0060] With renewed reference to FIGS. 1 and 3, the WAP gateway mayrequest the URL with a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request. Thecentral server 200 may receive the request and detect that the requestis coming from the wireless device 500 (WAP device), so it retrieves aWireless Markup Language (WML) version of the site from the databases400. WML is a language used to implement web pages for devices thatsupport WAP, such as, for example browser-enabled mobile phones. WML isa tag-based language used to describe pages of information to bedisplayed in a browser. WAP devices use WML, in part, because itrequires less bandwidth compared to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).WML is also faster and easier to render (e.g., translate and display)than HTML.

[0061] The content of the returned page, which is in WML, is sent to theWAP gateway. The textual WML may be compiled into tokenized WML at theWAP gateway. The tokenized WML content may then be sent to the wirelessdevice 500. The browser on the wireless device 500 may display thetokenized WML code contents, such as by a page or screen, to a user. Thecontents may prompt a user to enter a username and password inaccordance with step 725. A user preferably enters a username andpassword to obtain access to the information stored by the user in thedatabases 400. An entered username and password may be passed as arequest to the central server 200, encoded as part of a URL.

[0062] After accessing the central server 200 with the wireless device500 and entering a username and password, the server may send theinformation stored on the databases 400 to the wireless device in step730. The server 200 may return a WML page containing the information, anexample of which is shown in FIG. 4, using a URL. The returned URL maycontain all of a user's information encoded within it, which may bepersonal, medical history, and/or insurance information. Because somewireless devices limit the length of a URL to a specific number ofcharacters, compression or lookups may be used in a URL containing auser's information, such as for example D=diabetes. Lookups allow forencoding maximum user information.

[0063] An exemplary URL is:

[0064]http://www.gomed.com/senddate.wml?f=joan?q=simple?l=doe?a=4510.bay.road?tet=1195?d=a.

[0065] The above URL is a basic example of the format the URL may takewhen storing user information, the information may also employ lookuptables and an encryption method to further protect user data in case theuser lends the wireless device out and that borrower looks through theuser's bookmarks on the device display.

[0066] After the information is received by the wireless device 500, theinformation may be saved on the wireless device and deleted from thecentral server 200, in step 735. A user may bookmark the URL returned bythe central server 200, which marks and saves the site. The wirelessdevice may have a dedicated key that allows a user to bookmark a URL.Alternatively, the wireless device may have a bookmark option in itsbrowser menu.

[0067] Preferably, the bookmarked site appears on a browser menu of thewireless device. By bookmarking the URL, the information contained inthe URL may be saved on the wireless device and deleted from the centralserver. Two events may trigger the user information to be deleted fromthe server. In one embodiment, the information may be automaticallydeleted after the passage of a defined time period starting from thetime that the information is entered on the server (e.g. 24 hours). Inanother embodiment, the information may be deleted after the userbookmarks the URL and verifies his information on the WAP device. Afterverification that the information is stored correctly, the user may beinvited to select “verify” to confirm the information is correctlystored. The server may then delete the information from the interimdatabase. Additionally, the application may include a safeguard thatprovides that, should a wireless device ever become lost, theinformation on the device may be deleted/removed from the device forfinal security purposes.

[0068] Once the information is deleted from the server, the user'sinformation is only stored locally on the wireless device 500. A user'susername, password, phone type, cellular provider, and/or usageinformation, may remain on the server databases 400, however, so thatusers may update the information. Before a user is permitted to updateinformation using the server 200, the correct username and/or passwordmay need to be provided. For privacy and security reasons, this ispreferable to many consumers who do not wish to have their personal andmedical information residing on the Internet.

[0069] After bookmarking and saving the information on the wirelessdevice 500, the user may access the information as an output from thewireless device in step 740. The information may be visual or audible.Viewable information may be accessed by activating a designated buttonor selecting it from a browser menu on the wireless device. Thedesignated button may have an emergency symbol on it to alert medicalpersonnel that the device contains accessible medical information.Alternatively, the information may be provided audibly if the wirelessdevice is provided with voice synthesis or voice storage capability. Anaudible rendition of the information may be especially useful fordelivery of emergency information. Other suitable means of displaying ordelivering a user's information on a wireless device may includetext-to-voice capability.

[0070] The user may secure some or all of the information stored on thewireless device such that it can only be accessed after a password orPIN are input into the wireless device. On a PDA type device this may beimplemented using custom software that controls access to theinformation stored on the device by prompting the user for the PIN orpassword before letting the user view the private information. On acellular device this may be accomplished if the device supports customJava applications and other technical advancements, which could promptthe user for the PIN to view the private information. In otherinstances, the private information may be stored in an encrypted URLformat on the wireless device. If the user chooses to launch thewireless GoMed URL, he may view all of the private information on thedevice without sending it to anyone else.

[0071] With reference to FIG. 7, the user may transmit the informationto another destination 800 through the server 200 or through some othercommunications route. The destination 800 may be a doctor's office, aninsurance company, a hospital, or other location. The user may selectthe bookmark that is encoded with the information desired to betransmitted from the browser menu of the wireless device. With renewedreference to FIG. 3, in step 750, the central server 200 may be accessedby the wireless device 500 using the wireless browser function. In step760, the complete bookmarked URL containing the user's personal,medical, and/or insurance information may be sent from the wirelessdevice 500 to the central server 200. Alternatively, a portion of theURL, for example the non-password protected information, could be sentto the central server. The server 200 may return WML content that isdisplayed as a page, asking the user for destination information. Theuser may enter destination information to send the medical/insuranceinformation to another terminal. In step 770, the central server 200 maybe adapted to format the information and transmit it to the remoteterminal 800 (FIG. 7) via e-mail, fax, or any other appropriate means ofcommunication.

[0072] In a preferred embodiment, the wireless device 500 storing auser's medical information may also be adapted to provide reminders ofwhen to take particular medicines. This functionality may beaccomplished in a number of ways. In one embodiment, the wireless devicemay support applications such as custom Java applications in thebackground, which can alert the user with a reminder. In anotherembodiment, the user may enter personal information on the centralserver that indicates the times that medication is required. Alerts maythen be sent down from the central server to the wireless device forreceipt by the user. In yet another embodiment, the wireless device mayreceive a voice message reminder from the central server or in responseto a signal generated by the clock/calendar functionality of thewireless device. Some wireless devices provide alerts, which may beaccepted in to the device's reminder system (calendar) and used to lateralert the user of the specified times for a particular event (such asmedication). The foregoing functionality may be helpful to consumers,especially those taking multiple medications and the elderly.

[0073] In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the usermay input information for storage on the central server 200 and send theinformation to a wireless device 500, as described above. In thealternative embodiment, the wireless device 500 stores the informationlocally without the need for bookmarking a URL containing theinformation. The locally stored information may be viewed on a screen ofthe wireless device 500 or sent to a terminal 800 (FIG. 7) directly fromthe wireless device, rather than through a central server.

[0074] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variationsand modifications of the present invention can be made without departingfrom the scope or spirit of the invention. For example, the presentinvention could be adapted to store and transmit any type of informationon wireless devices, such as car insurance information or businessresumes. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover all suchmodifications and variations of the invention, provided they come withinthe scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for storing information on a wireless device, comprising the steps of: accessing a central server, said central server having at least one database associated therewith; temporarily storing personal, medical or insurance information relating to a person on the central server database; accessing the central server with the wireless device; transferring the information from the central server to the wireless device; storing the information in the wireless device; and deleting the information from the central server database.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the central server is accessed by a computer terminal using an Internet connection.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the central server is accessed by a computer terminal located locally with the central server.
 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of using a password or PIN to secure the information temporarily stored in the central server database.
 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the step of deleting the information from the central server database comprises the step of saving and not deleting from the database the password or PIN used to secure the temporarily stored information.
 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting at least a portion of the information stored on the wireless device to a remote terminal.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the remote terminal is a telefax machine.
 8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the remote terminal is a computer adapted to receive e-mail.
 9. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of visually displaying on the wireless device at least a portion of the information stored thereon.
 10. The method according to claim 9 further comprising the step of entering a password or PIN into the wireless device prior to display of at least a portion of the information stored on the wireless device.
 11. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of providing at least a portion of the information stored in the wireless device as an audible signal.
 12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of transferring information from the central server database to the wireless device is predicated on the transmission of a password or PIN to the central server from the wireless device.
 13. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of storing the information in the wireless device comprises the step of storing the information as a URL.
 14. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of storing the information in the wireless device comprises the step of storing the information in a memory allocated to the storage of personal, medical, or insurance information.
 15. The method according to claim 1 wherein the wireless device is selected from the group consisting of: a wireless telephone, and a personal digital assistant.
 16. The method according to claim 6 wherein the step of transmitting to a remote terminal comprises the steps of: accessing the central server from the wireless device; transmitting the information stored in the wireless device to the central server; temporarily storing the information in a database associated with the central server; instructing the central server to transmit the information to a remote terminal; transmitting the information temporarily stored in the central server to the remote location; and deleting the information from the database associated with the central server.
 17. A method for storing information on a wireless device, comprising the steps of: accessing a central server with a remote input device, said central server having a database associated therewith; temporarily storing information relating to a person in the central server database; storing in the database a password or PIN associated with the information; accessing the central server with a wireless device; transmitting the password or PIN from the wireless device to the central server; transmitting the information temporarily stored in the database to the wireless device responsive to the receipt of the password or PIN by the central server; storing the information in the wireless device; and deleting the information temporarily stored in the central server database.
 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the information comprises personal, medical, or insurance information.
 19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the step of deleting is carried out responsive to completion of the step of transmitting the information temporarily stored in the database to the wireless device.
 20. The method according to claim 17, wherein the step of transmitting the information to the wireless device comprises insertion of the information into a Uniform Resource Locator.
 21. The method according to claim 17, wherein the step of storing the information in the wireless device comprises bookmarking a Uniform Resource Locator containing the information.
 22. The method according to claim 17, further comprising the step of transmitting at least a portion of the information stored on the wireless device to a remote terminal.
 23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the remote terminal is a telefax machine.
 24. The method according to claim 22, wherein the remote terminal is a computer adapted to receive e-mail.
 25. The method according to claim 17 further comprising the step of visually displaying on the wireless device at least a portion of the information stored thereon.
 26. The method according to claim 25 further comprising the step of entering a password or PIN into the wireless device prior to display of at least a portion of the information stored on the wireless device.
 27. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of indicating a medication reminder with the wireless device in response to the storage of information in the wireless device.
 28. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the steps of: permanently storing medication reminder information on the central server database; and indicating a medication reminder with the wireless device in response to the storage of medication reminder information on the central server database.
 29. A system for storing information on a wireless device comprising: a central server; a database operatively connected to the central server; a remote input device; a network connecting the remote input device to the central server; a wireless device having a memory; medical information relating to a person stored in the wireless device memory in the form of a URL; dedicated means for accessing the medical information from the memory; and a wireless network connecting the wireless device to the central server. 